The present invention relates to a storage unit adapted for installation in a pickup truck bed or cargo bay, and more particularly to a storage unit supported by the pickup bed sidewalls.
A cargo bay or bed of a pickup truck is useful for storing articles such as tools or parts during transport; however, a pickup truck user often does not need the full capacity of the truck bed to store these articles. Therefore, to organize the stored articles --and also prevent the stored articles--from sliding around the pickup truck bed during transport--the user may wish to stow the articles in a smaller storage unit installed in the cargo bay.
However, a truck user often desires the availability of the full area of the truck bed floor to store large objects--such as sheets of plywood--without the inconvenience of removing a storage unit from the cargo bay. Therefore, storage units are typically mounted to the truck bed sidewalls to avoid resting or taking up space on the truck bed floor.
For example, a tool box can be mounted to pickup truck bed sidewalls as a storage unit. U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,188 issued Apr. 22, 1980 to Albrecht entitled "Vehicle Accessory System" discloses a tool box 140 with side portions extending over the side walls of the pickup bed to support the tool box above the truck bed floor. (FIG. 14.) The tool box includes a pair of covers 146, 148 on opposite sides of the tool box and hinged at the center of the box to provide access to either side of the tool box by opening one of the covers. (Column 7, lines 4-15.) However, a disadvantage of the Albrecht tool box storage unit is that it extends substantially above the pickup bed side walls to preclude installation of the tool box with a pickup bed cover having a low silhouette or profile height.
Pickup bed covers are often used to protect the truck cargo bay space from the weather and also help to reduce theft of stored items by minimizing the visibility of and unauthorized access to articles stored in the truck bed. A popular type of pickup bed cover has a low silhouette or profile height--so that the cover does not extend substantially above the tops of the cargo bay sides. Low profile height bed covers provide the advantages of an unobstructed driver's view out the rear of the truck bed cab, less wind drag in comparison to other bed covers, and a sleek, finished look that appeals to consumers. Several types of low profile bed covers exist, including: i) a rigid cover that is bolted or clamped to the truck bed to secure it in place, and ii) a flexible cover of watertight material, such as waterproofed canvas or plastic, that is stretched and tied down or snapped to the sides of the cargo bay.
Several useful low silhouette folding cargo bay covers are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,531 issued Jul. 4, 1989 to Kooiker entitled "Folding Cover for Pickup Box"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,217 issued Aug. 7, 1990 to Steffens entitled "Pickup Box Covers"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,491 issued Aug. 5, 1997 to Steffens entitled "Folding Cargo Bay Cover for Pickup Trucks." The folding cover includes four hinged panels that can be unfolded to lay flat on top of the truck bed sidewall of a pickup truck. The folding cover can be quickly and easily folded, one upon the other, to gain access to or expose the pickup truck cargo bay. Even when the low profile cover is folded so that the cargo bay is open, the cover provides a compact stack that i) is not substantially affected by the moving truck's slip stream and ii) does not obstruct the view through the rear window of the truck cab.
These low silhouette cargo bay covers are incompatible with existing storage units that are designed to hang from the sidewalls of pickup truck cargo bays because these existing storage units extend substantially above the pickup bed sidewalls. Thus, a low silhouette cargo bay cover cannot lay substantially flat on the top of the pickup cargo bay sidewalls because the height of the existing storage units disrupts the installation of the cover.